You all remember that one movie in your childhood, which you watched when you knew you shouldn't and then
suffered a decade of scar tissue on your soul. Like a bunny watching its own roadkill, you stared at the screen,
powerless to look away. And so you marked the one movie that still gives you creeps to this very day.

Nevertheless, you are a better person because of that movie. Indeed, I want to talk you about movies that build
character. It's not about horror, grisly documentary or shock. It's about the impression they leave on you. A
forever mark, I like to call it. The kind of impression that can affect your career, your choices in life.
Whether you rented the movie on purpose, seen it accidentally on TV or been forced to watch in by your school
staff, it makes no difference, you got an extra free dose of character you didn't ask for. Follow me.

K-19: The Widowmaker

If you've ever considered a career in the nuclear physics business, then please don't watch this movie. The
premise is simple. A bunch of Soviet sailors are stuck on board a nuclear submarine when its reactor decides to
play games. And now they have to fix it, wearing pretty much bikini suits only. And so you get two hours of
people going into the reactor chamber and fiddling with neutron radiation, plus a bit of drama and whatnot.

Whether K-19 is worth from the historical perspective is irrelevant. What makes the movie memorable is that you
will never again disrespect the little particles and think twice before venturing near any radiation site. On the
character-building scale of 1 to 10, The Widowmaker gets 7/10.

The Cassandra Crossing

This movies is about a bacterial plague infecting people on board a train. Sounds simple, which is what makes the
movie all the more character-building. And then, you have 90 minutes of suspense, colored with moments like the
train pulling over into Nuremberg, where soldiers in ABC suits seal the cars. And then, the train is redirected
into Poland. My, oh, my.

So what about the name, you ask? Well, it's the name of an old bridge, which is supposed to collapse when the
train passed over it. Wicked. You get a healthy dose of primal fear of disease, claustrophobia, despair, and
political intrigue. The Cassandra Crossing will probably not affect your career like K-19, but you may find
yourself suffering an extra nightmare or two. One of the more under-appreciated suspense films of the last
decade. On the character-building scale, it gets 8.5/10.

Misery

One word: don't trust old ladies living on their own in secluded houses in the countryside. At least, that's what
I learned from the movie, not having read the book. While all Stephen King's works focus on something that kills
something else, from a lawnmower gone wicked via puppets on a chainsaw spree to aliens drinking human blood, the
motif is the same. There's something innocent that starts giving you the creeps. All right, except aliens. And
maybe puppets. But old, cuddly ladies? For sure.

There's nothing spectacular about the movie, it's a fairly standard Hollywood production, but the acting of the
two main leads is just stellar. Maybe it's the focus on one man's suffering, maybe it's the cheerful, brilliant
madness of his captor, but you get a spoonful of fresh character at the end of it. Never again will you trust
people who compulsively arrange their collections of porcelain figurines. Grade: 6/10.

Link

This is an almost forgotten horror movie from the 80s, National Geographic style. You get a super-intelligent ape
going rogue on its masters. The very idea of a chimp, or a disguised orangutan, if you like it, being the villain
of a movie, after watching them play as circus-like comic reliefs for nigh five decades before that, is diabolic.
Or better yet, diabolik. The interaction between Jane, played by Elizabeth Shue, and the simian killers is
disturbing. The atmosphere is one of a National Geographic documentary, Editor's cut, which makes it even more
terrifying.

If you love chimps, this movie will come across as a bit of a shock. What people often forget is that chimps have
fangs the length of your USB thumb drive, they are some six to eight times stronger than an adult male and they
eat flesh. So when you look at them from his new perspective, you suddenly don't find them so fluffy any more.
But it sure does build your character, one big solid brick, 7/10.

Soldier Blue

This is a very depressing, extremely brutal Western, about the Sand Creek Massacre. Yes, you guessed it, the
movie is based on a real event, so don't expect any happy ending. But there's non-happy ending and there's
Soldier Blue. In fact, the whole movie is just an excuse for the last ten minutes.

It's not the actual violence that makes the difference. There are tons of movies that measure their success by
the pint of blood. But most you just simply disregard as foolish, even childish nonsense. Soldier Blue delivers a
message, which is not easy to chew and swallow. I won't spoil it for you, but this should not be your top choice
for the Saturday night all-family fun. Worst of all, like all great cinematic pieces, the end message is very
clear; there's no end message. If you expected a resolution, a closure, perhaps a bit of hope, look elsewhere.
When it comes to character building, this is a skyscraper, 9/10.

Afternote

You do realize that all of the movies listed here are simple mainstream titles. This is a deliberate choice.
There are many types of movies that are even more character-building, but then, the chances of you ever seeing
them are virtually nil. For example, anything by Dusan Makavejev or Lars von Trier is automatically
character-building and probably best left alone. Foreign movies, so to speak, are also automatically at least 50%
in the serious brain business. Clown movies, a given.

Conclusion

There you go, the perfect way to spoil your evening with some high-class horror and sadness, plus leave a deep
impression in your soul that will haunt you for years to come. I guess the impact is directly proportional to
movie length divided over your watching age multiplied by shock factor, which depends on various elements like
historic significance, innocent items turned bad, radiation, and suchlike.

One thing is sure, whether or not you appreciate these five movies as high-quality content, whether or not you
find them annoying or just plain scary or even disturbing, whether or not you approve or sympathize with their
message, they will sure build your character mightily. I'd say recommended, but in fact, best let your curiosity
kill the cat on this one.

P.S. The submarine, the man in the NBC suit and the Cheyenne family images are in public domain.